In 2007, our client a 16 year old young man, working during his summer vacation, fell at work and landed on his left wrist. He was seen at the hospital and a closed reduction of the fracture was performed by a Virginia Orthopedic Surgeon. He later returned to the operating room for an ORIF, open reduction/internal fixation of the wrist fracture with the placement of a standard DVR plate. After being off of work for 8 weeks, he returned to back to work.
Many times we are limited in what we can obtain for our clients in terms of their permanent partial disability as it is in large part determined by the client’s average weekly wage. In Virignia, workers who earn more will qualify for a more in terms of permament partial disabilty as their compensation rate is higher. It can be argued that this system is unfair to lower paid workers, the Workers’ Compensation system in Virginia allows for large variability in terms of settlements as the employee’s compensation rate alwys plays a large role in any offer. The Workers’ Compensation Act in Maryland provides for uniform awards for permenent partial disability, however the awards are ususally less than what is obtained in Virginia.
